This studentship will take microCT data of a wide range of bone fragments, identified via proteomic methods, and create an approach of reassembling bone fragments together, essentially attempting to complete a complex jigsaw puzzle. This project would attempt to solve this problem by exploring the potential for combining ZooMS with 3D shape analysis as a means to better approximate number of individuals that a collection of ancient bone fragments represents. This could involve investigation of the geometry of morphological structures through the identification of landmarks, or through landmark-free methods that use Euclidean Distance Matrix analysis or outline analysis with both eigen shape analysis and elliptical Fourier analysis for digitising points on the shape outline. Although well-defined, none of these approaches have yet been applied to the challenge of fragmented bone, of value to the fields of forensics, archaeology and palaeontology, but also downstream application to bone engineering.
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